Second Battle of Artois

The Second Battle of Artois was fought from 9 May to 18 June 1915 on the Western Front of World War I when the French and British launched a counteroffensive against the Imperial German Army following the Second Battle of Ypres. The second battle was a costly failure for the Entente powers, leading to a lull which lasted until the Second Battle of Champagne in September.

Battle
As the fighting at Ypres continued, an Allied offensive was launched farther south. On 9 May, after a five-day preliminary bombardment by 1,200 guns, the French 9th Army attacked in Artois, between Arras and Lens. The British 1st Army, under General Douglas Haig, mounted a supporting attack towared Aubers Ridge, in the same sector as the earlier Battle of Neuve Chapelle. French General Philippe Petain, commanding a corps, made a breakthrough to the crest of Vimy Ridge, but was then driven back by counterattacking German reserves. A renewal of the offensive on 15 May enabled the British to take the village of Festubert - an insignificant gain for heavy losses. By June, exhaustion dictated a general subsidence of fighting on the Western Front.

Aftermath
In spring 1915, all combatants experienced shortages of shells and artillery as factories struggled to increase their output. In Britain, a political crisis, known as the "shell scandal", was precipitated when senior commanders told journalists they were short of shells. Along with the failure of the Gallipoli landings, this provoked the formation of a coalition government in May 1915, with David Lloyd George as Minister of Munitions.

Germany's use of poison further harmed its reputation, especially in the United States. While denouncing German immorality, the Allies set about developing their own chemical weapons. The British made a first attempt to use chlorine gas released from cylinders at the Battle of Loos in September 1915. The British, French, and Germans made extensive use of gas-filled artillery shells.